


Don't Say Goodbye

by Witch of Writing (FayeSilver)



Series: Don't Say Goodbye [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Post-Season/Series 13, Spoilers for season 15 and beyond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 03:50:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15282948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FayeSilver/pseuds/Witch%20of%20Writing
Summary: What if Epsilon didn't actually deconstruct himself at the end of Season 13? What if someone was able to save him from himself? Maybe he just decided to go to sleep and wasn't planning on waking up again. What if that someone was multiple people from his past? Maybe project freelancer was good for something after all and that was for making it top agents more resilient than any of them gave each other credit for.In other news, my summaries kind of suck but it gets the point across.2K18 July Camp NaNo project.





	Don't Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my docs for a while now and I'm finally finishing the rewrite for the first chapter. If you've read this fic before today (Sep 7 2018), it's going to be a fairly different read now than it was. I feel like this is going to make this fic read much easier and it also will begin to help me set up for the long run. Unfortunately, this fic may take me a while to update but I will try to keep this fic going.

_ Hey guys. If you’re hearing this… it means you did it. You won! _

If it hadn’t been apparent during their previous fights, just how weak Church had become, it might be pretty obvious now. The fragment had to record this, even though he could feel himself struggling to keep his memory in tact. Still, Church had to smile behind his helmet, for all he was reluctant to admit he was more than a little proud of the band of misfits he belonged to, he definitely was and he wasn’t surprised to see just how underestimated they were.

It hadn’t been a surprise, not really, that Hargrove wasn’t able to predict the actions of the Sim Troopers right up until the very end. That, Church knew now, was the group’s greatest strength, and exactly why Flowers had picked everyone for the Blood Gulch Outpost. He knew they were never supposed to beat the other and  _ that _ was exactly why they had managed to work so well together.

_ You kicked the shit out of Hargrove’s forces. I knew you could. But...this is my last stop. _

Hovering in front of his friends, his  _ family _ , Church struggled to find the right words. He knew this was goodbye, and as much as he hated to say it, it was time for them to hear those words. From him this time and not from stupid not-note. He had to say goodbye, and this seemed like the most appropriate way to do it.

_ See, when I first came into this world, I was really just a collection of someone else’s memories. But with your help, these memories, they-they took form, they became my voice, my personality. And after a while, I-I began to make brand new memories of my own. All of these things are what make me who I am. But, they’re holding me back. _

Church’s gaze drifted over each soldier, before lingering on the two blue soldiers standing central in his attention. He would try and leave messages separately for Tucker and Caboose, but there wasn’t really time for that now. Again, the fragment could feel his lips twitch into a smile. Church knew that Tucker and Caboose would probably take him leaving the hardest of the sim troopers. Even though he hadn’t ever been there in his lifespan, the fragment could almost feel the warm, dry heat of the gulch, and imagine himself bickering with Tucker and Caboose while standing around accomplishing nothing, all while Washington and Carolina observed from afar. But even as he thought of the memory of Alpha, he was brought back to the reminder of how much painstaking time Caboose put into telling his memory unit all of the stories about Blood Gulch and about all (most) of its inhabitants.  _ Someday, I’ll make this up to them. Someday. _

_ I can’t run this suit as Epsilon. But, if I erase my memories, if I deconstruct myself? The fragments I’ll leave behind will have enough strength to get you through this. I believe that. I wish there were some other way. But I’m leaving this message, as well as others, in the hopes that you’ll understand why I have to go this time. _

**_Whoa, hold up buddy._** Two AI seemed to come to life then, hovering in front of Church, one in charcoal colored and the other in a strikingly familiar light blue. **_Can I make a suggestion here? How about you not kill yourself for no reason? I mean I always figured Wash to be a self-sacrificing moron, but myself? Come on now. That’s just not my thing but what do you think Tex?_** The light blue AI tilted his head this way and that as he looked over the flickering grey-blue version of himself before glancing at his charcoal colored counterpart before continuing. **_Then again, maybe it’s a byproduct of hanging around Wash too much._**

 ** _Oh, I don’t know Church, You always had a flair for the dramatic. So you can’t really talk since you did rush into Maine’s armor without a plan for getting out._** The darker armored ai pointed out with a smirk in her voice as she crossed her arms and looked at the Alpha pointedly. 

**_Oh, fuck you too._ ** Alpha’s voice was fond as he spoke.  **_Not like I had a deathwish though, and I never actually thought that I was a motherfucking AI. But man, even for us, some fucked up shit’s been going on. Okay E, we’ve got a little bit of time left, how about you fill all of us in on the cliff notes of what’s been going on?_ **

_ Cliff-notes?! You want motherfucking cliff-notes while /our/ friends are about to get killed and we’re going to be completely useless because the suit can’t run without AI!  _ The memory fragment’s voice was rising into ear-splitting screech territory as he attempted to shove past the whole of his personality.  _ Fuck, Tucker’s right, you are an asshole. Now I’m going to finish what I started, no thanks to you. So fuck off and let me do this. _

**_Okay, hold on just a second._** Church-Alpha held up a hand, not quite touching the other fragment, mostly out of fear of what would happen when he finally did touch the other. **_We have time. They’re still nowhere near finished with that door yet, and I think it's safe to say we’ll be well on our way before they actually catch up to what is happening now. We can figure out the details later, but for now...you definitely earned a rest bud. Now it’s time for you to take it. Safe to say a lot of things have changed since I’ve been gone. I got this E. You just take it easy._** Church held out a hand for the fragment who looked between it and the door and Tucker, and back again. Even to the outside perspective of Church and Tex, it was clear that he was having a debate. 

After what felt like an eternity, crammed into a few nanoseconds, Epsilon nodded his head decisively and reached out and took Alpha’s hand. The effect was immediate in the complete AI curling in on himself and breathing out in harsh gasps as memories came flooding back. With a harsh grunt, he shoved all of them back behind a firewall and straightening. He would deal with the less than pleasant effects of his memory being returned at a later date. 

**_Okay D. We’ve got one, two, three…_ ** Church counted the sim troopers silently once, twice before nodding to himself.  **_Cool, we’ve got a full crew from Blood Gulch here, you’ve been able to see what I know about as far as they go. They’re not in the greatest of shape, in some cases. I can tell that they’re all pretty drained…_ **

The logic fragment popped out a display with each of their accuracy percentages based on the factors that were most visible to them.  **_Nah, that doesn’t work for me. I know them better than that. Besides from what I’m seeing Tucker’s gotten a lot better with that alien sword of his...and he can apparently dance-Where the hell did he- Y’know what, not the time to worry about that right now._ ** Church shook his head and readjusted the numbers with a little bit of help from Theta in the trust department.  **_Yeah, that looks a lot better. Thanks, Theta. Now let's see about the rest of the guys….Oh, that’s...interesting. Yeah...that might actually come in handy...I don’t like the odds on...Freckles. What the hell kind of name is Freckles for a gun? Whatever, I’m not here to question it. Sigma, I’m watching you, let's see about raising that success percentage. Right now we’re playing creative with the math. Just shut up and follow my lead._ ** The smart AI snapped when the orange AI appeared and he set it to work readjusting the percentage for ‘Freckles’. 

**_What else, what else...Oh! I know._** Church hovered in front of Tucker, tilting his head as he scanned through what was an impressive list of armor enhancements. **_I’m not letting Sigma anywhere near this. Tex! I’m letting you play captain in the suit. Omega’s probably gonna follow your lead on this. Be careful. Let’s see, lastly...we need paths. Paths that are gonna get us to the hangar pretty quick._** The AI paced around in the air for a moment before snapping his fingers. **_Gamma, you’re still kind of a dickbag too, but you’re also good with tracking cameras and shit. Best path to the hangar bay?_**

**It is likely that going back the way they came is going to be their best choice.** Gamma spoke up reluctantly after some thought before vanishing back into the helmet. Church nodded and eyed each of the paths that had been presented before selecting the one with the highest success even with the injuries that it was likely to offer.

**_All right, thanks, guys. This looks good. All right D, let’s see about getting this uploaded into all available HUDs. It’s gonna be messy but it works. Tex, I’m leaving you in charge of Omega. For now, I’m gonna go back to sleep_ ** . Church told his other half with a shrug before they all vanished back into the Hephaestus suit.  **_Oh, before I forget. Yeah, this is gonna get deleted. We don’t want you guys worrying about us now._ ** He deleted the partial recording that hadn’t stopped in the entire exchange. 

As time returned to normal, the group of sim troopers were startled by the sudden information uploaded to their HUDs. “ **_Go go go! Move your asses!”_ ** Tucker wasn’t the only one to start at the female voice coming from the suit of armor. The door fell just as their shouted instructions came and the group bolted, taking advantage of the shock of Hargrove’s forces to blow through the first ones on their way to the hangar. 

The sound of gunfire followed the sim troopers as they rushed into the hangar. “Simmons get that door shut!” Tucker shouted, working with Caboose to try and shut the door.

“I’m trying! The controls are still out of- FILSS can you shut the doors?” Simmons called, desperately trying to make the controls work while simultaneously help fight off Hargrove’s forces. 

“Affirmative.” The doors slammed shut, blocking out the shouts of the men firing at them. The combined reds and blues sank to the floor, their backs against the door as they looked into the empty hangar. 

“Well, now what?” Donut asked, anxiety filtering into his voice, asking the question that was on all of their minds. “We don’t know if Carolina and Wash can make it here in time and if they don’t our donut holes are creamed.”

No one could muster a reaction to Donut’s weak attempt to get a rise out of them. “Church? Can you reach Carolina? Maybe let her know that we’re kinda fucked?” Tucker asked with a groan as twisted the Hephaestus helmet off, taking as deep a breath of fresh air that he could. 

**_Uh, yeah. I’ll see what I can do. But Tucker I don’t know that you should take your helmet off._ **

“What? Why?” Tucker asked, his eyes narrowing at the projection standing on top of the helmet.

“Because son, I think we’ve got company,” Sarge spoke up as he cocked his shotgun. “Who in Sam Hell are ya’ll?” 

“Whoa, whoa, easy…” The voice belonged to a man of average height that appeared to be blind in one eye. “My name’s-”

**_York. He’s a freelancer. And also supposed to be very, very dead._ ** Church spoke up as Tucker put his helmet back on and stood up, getting a good look at the group standing behind the man. Code names that belonged to people long dead.

The man who had spoken first started when the AI spoke up. “You’re the Alpha, how…” He hesitated as he looked over his shoulder at the tallest of the group, a giant of a man standing at 8 feet tall, a man who looked green around the gills and clutching at the shoulder of a small brunette standing next to him. 

All the questions would have to wait as another pelican flew into the hangar and its door opened. “Hurry up and get on quick! We need to get you guys out of...what the hell is this?”

“Never mind!!” Tucker shouted as he grabbed Carolina’s arm and tugged her further in. It wasn’t long before the pelican was taking off with more than a full load between a squad of freelancers, a noticeably irate pilot, and the Blood Gulch crew. 

The trip back to base was supposed to be a short one, but as cramped as the back of the Pelican was it felt far longer than strictly necessary. 

A cleared throat from next to Carolina got a gun to his face. “Hey, hey, whoa, easy Carolina. I just had a question for ya. If I said I liked your armor, would you hold it against me?”

 


End file.
